On March 14 and 15, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) held
LibrePlanet 2020: Free the Future online. The virtual edition of
LibrePlanet was nothing short of a success, and it was quite a journey
to get there.
Looking back to a week before the conference, we had an incredible
lineup, exciting plans, and more new program elements than we've ever
had before. With a new logo designed by campaigns intern Valessio
Brito, a refresh to the LibrePlanet 2020 Web site, renewed
focus on using the LibrePlanet wiki to collaborate, and with a
new home at the Back Bay Events Center, we were ready to receive
hundreds of free software supporters in Boston for another successful
conference. And then everything changed.
Our in-person event suffered the consequences of the global COVID-19
pandemic, forcing us to make the difficult decision of bringing
LibrePlanet 2020 online in order to protect our supporters, staff, and
all the many interrelated communities. There was no time to pause and
mourn: instead, the FSF team put our heads together fast and charted a
new direction.
Within the scope of five days, we were able to move the conference
from an in-person experience to a live streaming event, thanks to the
heroic efforts of our talented tech team, our volunteers, and the
flexibility and cooperation of our scheduled speakers, even some
previously unscheduled ones. We hosted three sessions at a time for
both days of the conference, bringing viewers thirty-five streamed
talks from forty-five speakers, as well as eight lightning
talks. Technical difficulties were few and far between, and when one
of our speakers asked how many nations were tuning in, within the span
of eighteen seconds, twelve countries were identified.
GNUess created in the live Krita demonstration by Pepper & Carrot artist David Revoy.style>
Hosting a fully virtual event was new for everyone involved, and on
Saturday, we were happy to find out that everyone's efforts of the
week leading into the conference paid off. We hosted our own
Jitsi instance for remote speakers, using a screen capture of the
video call to stream out to the world via Gstreamer and
Icecast. Speakers all logged in during the week for testing,
sometimes multiple times, to work through any technical difficulties,
and ensure a smooth experience for viewing. Some speakers prerecorded
their sessions and others joined live, but nearly all of them joined
in the Freenode IRC channels for their Q&A sessions, which
created a positive interactive social experience.
We will post a more detailed technical explanation, and some advice
for other conference organizers based on our experience, soon. Our
tech team is currently processing videos of all talks, and we will
publish them for viewing in the conference video library. Some
additional speaker resources have been posted on the LibrePlanet
wiki. For the first time, by popular demand, we are also working on
getting the audiostreams for the talks up via RSS feed, so you can
discover talks or catch the ones you missed in your favorite
podcasting app or RSS reader.
The winners of the 2019 Free Software Awards all accepted their
awards by prerecorded video message. As the ceremony was conducted
virtually this year, each winner selected the person to present them
the award. Jim Meyering, who received the Award for the Advancement
of Free Software, was virtually handed his award by founder of
the GNU Project and the FSF, Richard Stallman, and sent in his
acceptance speech from the UK. Clarissa Lima Borges, a young Brazilian
developer, was digitally awarded the golden record for the new Award
for Outstanding New Free Software Contributor by Alexandre Oliva,
acting co-president of the FSF. Acting co-president and executive
director John Sullivan presented the Award for Projects of Social
Benefit, which went to Let's Encrypt, a nonprofit certificate
authority that hopes to make encrypted Web traffic the default state
of the entire Internet.
On day two, another diverse group of speakers called in to
discuss the future of free software, casting light on the topic from
their own individual fields of expertise. Licensing, government
integration, community building, and other free software topics were
discussed. Our speakers work with, and advocate for, free software in
many different disciplines. We value seeing people with a wide range
of perspectives commit to the core principles of free software. Over
the weekend, we noticed many sessions highlighting how a movement like
free software is carried by the strength of people who believe change
is necessary and achievable. Speakers discussed the developments of
federated social media and a decentralized Web, teaching free
software to children, engaging young developers, community
healing, as well as different applications of "public
invention".
This focus on community and collaboration is a core idea behind the
LibrePlanet network and conference, and the FSF has been working on
plans to get the LibrePlanet community more involved in organizational
aspects of the conference in the future, including session
selection. This resonates with FSF executive director John Sullivan's
announcement of our plans to create a working group documenting the
obstacles facing free communication tools like Jitsi, which we used
for the livestream, and how to encourage our friends and loved ones to
turn away from chat and conferencing tools that do not respect their
freedom. We want the world to be able to host virtual conferences like
LibrePlanet without needing the technical expertise of an organization
like the FSF behind them. With your help, we aim to make it as easy as
getting some friends and participants together and pressing a button.
LibrePlanet 2020: Free the Future highlighted the capacity this
community has to empower each other. We are so grateful for the
support we received from our speakers, our viewers, IRC
participants, associate members, and everyone who recognized the
challenge we have been confronted with and decided to donate, as
well as our volunteers, and exhibitors and sponsors. All of this
support and enthusiasm made the disappointment of having to cancel the
in-person event fade quickly, in return for much needed excitement to
work tirelessly on this new challenge of streaming the entire
conference online.
We're so proud to have demonstrated what free software is capable
of. It would not have been possible without the extra work and
positive responses from our speakers, the flexibility and commitment
of our volunteers, or without the excitement, patience, and enthusiasm
of our online participants. We look forward to seeing you again, in
person next year, for LibrePlanet 2021!
